Norway is set to reach close to 100% EV market share by 2025. Electric-car registrations in Norway rose to a record last month, led by Tesla Inc.’s Model Y. Diesel and gasoline cars represented just 2% of sales.
About 94% of the 11,114 cars sold in August were electric, the Norwegian Road Federation, or OFV, said Monday. That boom has been driven by generous tax incentives, as well as perks such as use of bus lanes and parking benefits. For the year through August, EVs accounted for almost 87% of sales of new passenger cars. If this trend continues, Norway will soon achieve the target of having 100% zero-emissions fleet in 2025.
More than 2,000 Tesla Model Ys were sold in August, taking a 19% share. Volvo EX30 sales totaled 932. Skoda Enyaq sales topped 700.
Norway’s first wireless EV charging road for electric vehicles in Trondheim has been installed by Electreon Wireless, an Israel based company. This technology aims to eliminate the need for charging stops, enabling electric buses and cars to operate continuously throughout the day.
Norway, a pioneer in electric vehicle adoption, will not align with the EU’s decision to impose higher tariffs on Chinese electric cars. Introducing tariffs on Chinese cars is neither relevant nor desirable for the Norwegian government.
With the highest density of electric vehicles globally, Norway saw 24% of its cars being electric last year, and over 80% of new vehicles sold in 2022 were EVs, as reported by Statistics Norway. According to The Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), more than 12% of EVs imported into Norway come from Chinese manufacturers.
Norway, which is not part of the European Union, was the first European market for many Chinese EV startups. Nio entered Norway in May 2021, a year before officially launching in the EU. Xpeng launched in Norway even earlier, in 2020. Norway is also home to some Chinese brands that are very rare in Europe. The UK, another European non-EU member, hasn’t yet hinted if it will follow EU policy on hiking tariffs on China-made EVs.
On June 12, the European Commission concluded that China-made EVs benefit from unfair state subsidies. As a result, EC announced additional import duties on China-made EVs ranging from 17.4% to 38.1%, depending on the automaker.
/Bloomberg/